The survivors of skaia
by sadistic batter
Summary: The game has been won, the kids have gotten out, but what happens to the Survivors? A sprawling city run by grist money and crime. Every player just trying not be be slaughtered by the imps. But what happens when the world is torn to peices? Rated T for language. Subject to change
1. Chapter 1- The beginning after the end

[*~The survivors of skaia~*]

Chapter 1- The beginning after the end

The sky flashes red with the burning of the buildings, the bodies line the checker-boarded floor like the tiles that make them up, blood oozes along the floors, staining the white tiles with the dark crimson liquid.  
The flames continue to lick the land, engulfing anyone, or anything unlucky enough to get near it, although there are hardly enough people left alive to become hurt or even startled by this.  
Everyone's seen too much already.  
Too many people are scarred and scared to venture out forth  
The players had seen too much and felt too much to expect anything more than the fires that plagued the "hub"

A raggedy figure moves through, wearing a simple torn Hoodie. A large silver blade, tainted with blood, curved at the end and the handle laces with neon. His chin has a light stubble, his cheek slightly torn.  
His hair is long and matted and dirty, his bangs hang in front of his face, and his eyes dart around the battle field. People rarely travel anymore here, at least. It's a nice place to catch some peace and quiet. This man's name will currently remain unknown  
"Oi! Hello! You!"  
Fuck  
Another player, approaches our raggedy swordsmen. This new person is wearing a baseball cap, and a t-shirt with some logo on it. He looks kind of like a prick. The raggedy swordsmen walks towards him, and feels a sense of glee  
"Hello, arnold!"  
"Dimitri!"  
Fuck I said it would be a mistery can we not  
"Dimitri alexander! My old friend!"  
Christ on a nipple  
Dimitri walks towards the man, embracing him like a brother, it'd been a while since he'd see this man, his friend, his comrade.  
Sometimes he'd trade with this man, they'd hang out, drink, and fight imps together. They were friends.

The men embrace for a bit longer, before they stepped apart, each a look of glee on their sweaty faces, the battlefield continuing to burn, the flames raging on behind the two friends.  
"How's the scavenging been going, my brothah, my friend!"  
"Not much, found a few dead players, took the valuables to the cit' talked to some friends, good day"  
"Cool man, I'm going to head out, the Goliaths broke through the gates to harrowdale yesterday, they're paying top grist for anyone willing to get 'emselves killed. Good paying, some kid even got out of this hellhole, went to the higher ups"  
"Holy crap, seriously?"  
"Yeah, i'm heading out, using all the wrench I got in me"  
"cool"  
"Later"  
"Later"  
The man in the tee walks off, waving to his friend. He holds his flaming wrench in his hand, stalking off towards harrowdale.  
Dimitri stands there, smiling, his old hoodie letting in some of the air, he quickly pulls it around his neck, keeping the freezing winds out.

7 hours later

Dimitri walks up to the city, the tall stone gates towering over him, the stone blocks staying solid no matter how rotted they see. They call this city Celsie. The city of the scavengers, a nice place, but not always safe. Sometimes the imps broke in, sometimes people died. Wasn't a perfect life, but it was better than the lone runners. Anything was better than a lone runner. He enters the gates, conversing with the guards, he enters the city, stalking off to the market. ah, the market. The only place people can make a lot of money easily. Weren't no such thing as a stable job. Usually it was mass scavenging, selling your stuff, scouting(and probably dying) or protection. everything was an odd job. And the more boondollars you got, the more grist you could buy. Get enough grist, you move up to a higher point, higher level players, more protection, easier money. Right now, he was at the seccond level, he had the money to get up, but things get stolen, and blood gets shed. Our hero, walks into his home, or what you could call it.  
Stepping inside, he sees the regulars. The lower levels had public shacks, people just hung out, it was a community.  
A shout echoes through the streets, along with a bloodcurdling scream, and then silence.  
Great  
Another one

Maybe if the people would stop killing each other for one fucking moment the imps wouldn't be a threat  
Yet  
People are stupid, and this is a fact, species aren't very good at the whole not dying thing. You step over some sleeping troll, his horns spiraling upwards. Trolls and humans are most common, along with the surviving prospitians and dersians. You go into your sylladex, a basic Blaze wheel modus. You pop your spoils from today's scavenging into the discs, slotting them into their desired cases, then on the mass wheel. He heads down the street, the air filled with the depressing scent and sight, grimy and gray, blood-splattered and dirty. The usual. He heads down the street, looking at the ol' stuff-shack. Best buyer in the game. He walks into the shop, crome, white, and sterile. A vast change from the grime and gore outside. Sentries stand at every corner, guns trained on him  
"Great"  
It's the usual business.  
Walk towards the bin  
Glare at anyone else  
Dump the cards in  
Punch in your pin number  
Payment goes straight to your account.  
Nothing more nothing less it's simple it's effective and it's free money.  
If you don't count the painful death that might happen, but at this point it's only normal to be mercilessly beaten to death by imps and other monsters.  
He looks around, breathing and taking in all of the scents.  
Everything was well.  
He continues to walk along the road, once leaving the stuff shack, strolling down the road, looking around. He grasps his large neon bladed sword, grasping it in his hand and feeling the handle  
"Perfect"

He continues his journey across town, for not obvious reason more than just to stay away from anyone he'd know. Kind of a bummer when everyone you know is dead or crazy  
Well, mostly everybody  
But she graduated a long time ago, got pulled into a guard for a caravan, for some god-tiers, high level people. She got the money to stay up. living on the fourth level now  
God he misses Sarah.

She was a sweet fuckin peach, he can vouch for that.  
Well, you can't have everything. He walks along, and notices it's getting late. The sun's lowering down over the hub, and casting a golden light over everything it touches, illuminating the world in a beautiful glow as the orb goes down, the world seeming to cling to the last few strands of light.  
What a beutiful time to be alive, he supposes. Not much to like anymore. All just survival from here. Almost like an adventure.  
Always wanted one of those.  
Well, suppose this is one. A little one, but these things gain momentum and stuff.  
He climbs onto the roof of one of the shacks, and plops his blanket down, lying on it. Curling up and using his dark black hoodie to conceal his skinny and frail form.  
"'Night, dimitri..."  
"Night, me..."  
And thus  
Sleep.


	2. Chapter 2- The bloodstained boots

Chapter 2- The bloodstained boots

Screaming. Yelling. Crying. Noises. Distress. Hatred. emotion.

"what did I miss" dimitri thinks to himself, crawling out of his blanket, seeing the red haze lifting over the city.

"Odd" he says. The city usually doesn't catch fire from the random flames from the battle of skaia. Usually, they keep their distance.

Screaming

Something's wrong

Tears

Need to move

Death

Run.

He hurls himself off of the building, feeling his body shake with fear. The red smoke flaring up, the sky darkening. The black thick clouds building up above. He darts forward, his boots slamming against the pavement, speeding along. As he runs, her sees a large black figure, twisted and distorted, rip apart a soldier, sending him off to the dream bubbles, which were forever destroyed by the "famous" session. He continues to sprint, suddenly feeling a white hot pain in his stomach, the world flips sideways and his vision is distorted. He is vaguely aware of his body hitting the floor with a loud 'CRACK'. He scrambled up with his neon blade, and looks around. A siege imp, holding something that looks like a cannon ball sword or something. Dimitri utters something along the lines of "Oh shit" but his throat feeling to bent to get the words out. He rushes at the imp and rams his blade into it's neck, the cannonball barely missing his arm. A shower of blood splatters all over his clothing, before the imp hits the ground, dropping grist. He quickly takes it and darts forward, ramming another poor imp onto his blade as he darts, leaning to the side and wobbling on his legs. He runs forward, before stopping in his tracks, nearly tripping on his feet. looking up, he sees an enormous large creature, with a skull like face and sweeping arms, longer than a house and about half as thick. It slams it's arms down, obliterating a part of the wall, a soldier clings to it's arms, attempting to swing at it. He's crushed with a sickening cracking noise. Poor soul. Dimitri runs forward, narrowly avoiding another swing, this time taking off some kid's head. Too young to die like this. He keeps running forward, not daring to look back at the crumbling village behind him, not listening to the screams, not accepting he's going to die like this. No one dies like this. "Especially not me" He thought, running as fast as he could. Most people ran away from the gate, where they were pouring in, but he knew better. There were many ways to get out, and the wall was riddled with holes. He felt a glimmer of hope, as he sprinted down, his chest heaving and his heart pounding. His eyes darted towards a large gaping crack in the wall, just big enough for him to get through. He bolted towards it, before suddenly feeling a large hit from behind. He looked down and he was being swept off his feet. The giant black arm, slapped him away, blood running down his nose and mouth, he was sent hurdling backwards, higher up than most of the monsters. He could see the flames of the city, and all of the destruction. As he soared trough the air, he tried to grasp onto the air, reaching at the clouds like a crazy person.

SNAP

And the world went dark, black, and bloody. He watched the blood leak out his face, the liquid life pool below him.

He passed out

Days later

He felt a small poke in his stomach, just a prod. All he felt, still being asleep. He felt something soft beneath him. Squishy, and plush. He could feel the bandages wrapped around him, so many, making it hard for him to move. It feels like restraints. He tried to move, and his entire being ached with all the pain he could feel. His body felt limp and unresponsive.

He falls back to sleep

One week later

He sits up, rubbing his eyes, feeling sorer that he'd ever felt before. He looks around, wondering where he is. The feeling of emptiness surrounds him, as he stupidly tried to pick the memories from nowhere.

"The hell am I doing here...?" He said, leaning back. The memories came like a rush of waves, crashing into him and drowning him.

"Oh god"

Sixty feet

He'd survived a fall from sixty feet.

Oh my god he'd survived a fall from sixty feet.

He tried to stand, but found his legs in a avalanche of pain. The sharp knife being driven up him. He yelped out in pain, standing down and kneeling.  
A woman walks in.

A thin and tall woman, her muscles mainly hidden by the large cloak, hugging her tightly. She had short and mangled brown hair, and a large scar across her nose, touching her light green eyes. Dimitri sits up and looks at this woman, a slight smile on his face.

"You're alive." She said, stating it as fact more than anything else.

"Why wouldn't I be" He replied

"Because you were damn close to death you retard"

"Well, what can you do"

"Not die?"

"Good idea"

She laughed and smiled, extending her hand, her hair clinging to her head and seeming unnaturally messy.

He takes it and shakes it weakly, his arm still in massive pain

"Stephanie, but you can call me steph"

"Hello, steph, t'name is Dimitri"

"Nice name"

"Thanks"

She looked at him, frowned and whispered

"You should probably get some more sleep. You need to heal up dumbfuck."

"Rude, I'd at least expect a little respect..."

"For almost dying like a prat?"  
"Exactly"

"Don't patronize me"

"I do what I want"

"Touche"

Dimitri lied down, curling up and nodded  
"Seems reasonable"

"It is"

So, she walked off, to do who knows what, while dimitri slipped off into another deep sleep. His body, aching constantly.

This was a good choice

For he'd need all the strength he could get


	3. Chapter 3- A favour

Chapter 3- A favour

He woke up with a start, being able to sit up without a substantial amount of pain. He looks around, his bandages still stuck steadfastly on his person. He sits up and examines his surroundings, not being quite yet familiar with them. He finds himself in a small tent, set up as a temporary hospital. He was lying on a mattress, now rather blood-soaked and grimy, the tent was a bright white, and a drawer was next to him. He quickly looked inside, seeing his clothing and all of his captchalouge cards. He put the cards away and slipped on his clothing. Still very tired, he yawned loudly, before walking over to the bed again, looking at the red mattress.

"Ew" He said, musing over whether to sleep on it.

He lies down and goes to sleep on the mattress.

The next morning dimitri found himself walking along the concrete streets, the sprawling village surrounding him, like a trapped mouse in a maze, he scurried about to his heart's content, looking at the small wooden houses, and the large commercial buildings sprawling overhead. He looks around and breathes it all in. He quickly darts from building to building, his long strides giving him considerable distance, and his boots creating a lot of noise as they pitter patter down the street. He continues to run, always finding it relaxing to stretch his muscles. He suddenly stops as he enters the shadow of some... Thing. He looks up, and sees a large glass building, lined from the corners up with stone, other than that it looks entirely modern. a very big change from The doom and gloom of Celsie... as he walks up to the building, he hears a voice and nearly faints, flinching very hard

"Hey, nerd!" Stephanie shouted, her teeth in a wide grin. she had put on a tank top and short shorts, and a towel was draped around her neck. She had been exercising earlier and had taken a short run around the city

"Nice to meet you here" She giggled, smirking and stepping closer to him

"Well, it's a pleasure." He replied, rolling his eyes and sighing, stepping backwards

"Hey, prick, where are you goin? I need a favah from you kiddo~" She teased, stepping forward again

"A favor? what favor?" he asked, looking bewildered. step backward

"You survived celsie, right?" she mused, snickering loudly

"Why...?" He said, looking at her suspiciously, if a bit giggly himself.

"Harrowdale needs some new warriors, we're sending a scouting squad out to explore, and you're pretty descent. they'll take anyone as raw meat shield. Plus, you're pretty meaty, for surviving that you nerd"

"..."

"They're paying 6,000 grist per person" She stated, flicking her hair to the side

"It's an honor to serve my people" He joked, nodding in agreement.

"Great, briefing's tonight, see you there!" She exclaimed, quickly running off, quicker than possible.

"Wait, what?" He asked, feeling confused

He now had an obligation. Fuck.

Well, he continued his walk down the main street, stopping at a small little coffee shop. He stopped by, walking inside and looked around.

A homely place, small, and wooden on it's interior. With two tables, and no wallpaper, the only noticable feature is the counter, which is a bright brown. it has a class display case, but otherwise is just a wooden block. A small door is behind it, leading into the coffee grinding room.

He walks inside and orders some bread and a latte, sitting down at the table and looking out the window.

He sees the world outside, more homely and free then the slums he grew up in. He saw people laughing and talking as they walked by, not hunched over and depressed as he had seen them so many times. He mused to himself, that, perhaps this was a good thing. That maybe he would get to start over. All he had to do was, do this, collect the money, and live as a free man. A free man. Finally.

Finally.

Several hours later.

Dimitri walks out of the proofing room, the mission being explained. Simple really

Find out who coordinated the attacks. Get info, and eliminate. It's a simple task

Nothing could possibly go wrong.

He holds his sword in his hand, chatting idly to Stephanie, as the other recruits mingle amongst themselves. They walk down an old country road, nearly overtaken by foliage. The scouting troop rides on horseback, whilst the newbies walk on foot, all with their weapons drawn and at the ready. They slowly enter the forest, a nearby woodland area, notorious for being filled with murderers and imps. After an hour within the forest, the party stops to rest in a clearing, the entrance far from sight. The trees sprawl high up, covering the top, so little sunlight get in. There's trees everywhere, each about two feet thick and immeasurably tall. They all stopped to catch their breath, been traveling for three hours with no stop. Dimitri pitches his tent up against a large tree, using that to hold the cloth up. He sits inside resting, taking a short break to rest. He lies onto his cot, or, what you could call it. It was more like a small scruffy mattress held up on two sticks, but you really had to just sort of ignore it and try to make the best of it. It was rather uncomfortable, so he furiously tried to make himself comfortable, but to no avail. He thrashed and turned, flipped his pillow and twisted around, hours later, he gave up. Not being able to sleep, Dimitri put his coat on, and walked outside. He strode out, walking amongst the trees and foliage, the light of the camp shining dimly behind him. He look around, before plopping down on a nearby rock, crossing his legs and smiling to himself. He looks up at the endless swirling starry night, the pale black sky spreading out into eternity. He looks around the forest, the twilight light skimming throughout the grounds, illuminating the forest creatures and bugs that scurry through the night. The mountains tower far above the forest, and the stars twinkle out for every living thing. True beauty. Dimitri lies down on the soft dirt soil, looking up into the endless abyss. Slowly drifting off to sleep.

Sweet blissful sleep.


	4. Chapter 4- Combat and initiative

Chapter 4- Combat and initiative

Dimitri sleeps upon the cold, yet soft dirt floor of the Forest. He stirs slightly, and opens one eye, barely awake. He looks up, seeing a bright blue sky awaiting him. He wakes up, after a long rest, finally aroused. He hears some commotion by the camp, so he stands up, brushing off the coat and dusting his hair off, packing up the blanket and stuffing it in his pocket, then heads in the direction of the culprit noise. He arrived at the campsite, the fire pits completely doused, and all of the remaining tents to have seemingly vanished. The soldiers and other men and women stand around, idly chatting to one another. He's looking around, eying the valuable armor sitting upon the soldiers shoulder's, when suddenly, he feels a great weight on his shoulders, and has seemingly sprouted to feminine hands, wrapping themselves around his neck.

"Hey you shitty little goofball, we've been lookin for yah! Thought you were dead, we did. Sent a search party out for you and _everything_!" Yelled Stephanie, drawing some odd looks from a few people, before they all went back to milling around and talking amongst themselves.

"I didn't see nothin' when I woke up... Didn't even hear anything in the night..." He replied, looking at her with a certain suspicion, in his eye and voice. he wonders to himself, "Is she just saying that to guilt me?"

"Well, I was the only one searching, silly! No one else really cared, less food to have to distribute, you were looking oddly anyways, blah blah blah blah! They're all _jerks_ anyways. Worried my bloody eyes out..." She said, playfully rubbing the underside of his chin with her index finger

Dimitri blushed slightly, feeling the heat creep across his face, he quickly said, "W-Well, u-uh, that was v-very sweet of you, Steph... Hehe..." He quickly made sure to look away, feeling slightly embarrassed that someone actually came looking for him. Wasting their time because of his stupid mistake... Maybe... She... L-

"Come _**ON! **_we are waiting for you to hurry up! Come on, captain says we're fairly close, two days, at maximum! We can't waste sunlight you dork!" She yelled loudly, flailing her arms a little, hitting him in the nose, since her arms were still wrapped around his neck.

"Okay okay okay! I'm going! Calm yourself Jesus!" He replied angrily, half rubbing his nose, he started to walk forward, standing next to a white horse-like creature... Was it a horse? No one knew for sure. They started their walk forward, their boots sinking deeper and deeper into the mud. Hours on end they walked, never stopping for any reason, handing out food as they walked, abandoning anyone too tired to move on.

After hours of trudging through the mud, thoroughly ruining anyone not on horse(thing) back. Suddenly the captain came to a halt, his horse knocking over a short blonde man, his face hitting the mud with a loud "Shmuck". The captain looked to all of his soldiers, and said, barely in a whisper, sounding quite terrified, "We're here, draw your weapons" The area surrounding them was no different, except for a hole, leading into one of the trees. Large enough to fit a fairly large person. Or, a large thing. Maybe, a large imp for example. The hole towered over all the party in height, but in width, the horses would not fit through. Even the skinniest and starved of the steeds, could not squeeze through. The captain looked around the group, his eyes scanning the crowd, his eyes stopped on Dimitri, Stephanie, and two other poor souls. The first was a man by the name of Jeff. He was skinny and frail, with short blonde hair, and a dirt stained tee-shirt. The second was a tall thick man, carrying a golden staff, and wearing a deep purple jacket, with a smiley face on it. He looked at the captain, and sighed. His name, was Chace.

"You four! Jeff, Dimitri, Chace, Stephanie! You four first! Double payment! Onwards!" The captain screeched, making half the members jump, and one fall off their horse entirely, scratching their arm on a sharp branch. The captain pointed to the tree hole so quickly, that a young Indian kid, had to duck and roll to evade his swing. The four soldiers nodded quickly, and started towards the hole. Dimitri went first, hopping in the hole, launching himself right in. He fell for a second or two, his coat fluttering above him as he fell. He hit the ground with a horrible squelching noise. He paused for a second, and looked down, and nearly screamed. Three still men, No not men, less then men, used to be men. Dead men.

Three lifeless corpses, all wearing ancient prospitian armor, two humans, and a troll. The horns torn off, and left who knows where. A sword, a broken arrow, and three pikes sticking out of the trolls chest lie here. The ground is soaked with red and yellow, creating a small swirl on the floor. One of the humans head's looks caved in, beaten in by something. Impossible to distinguish features. The troll, lies dead on the floor, on his side. Three metal pikes sticking out. The third person, was another human... Wearing his god their clothing. It was torn and bloody, but it looked like he was a prince of light, based on the few scraps left on the floor. His chest was opened entirely, the organs and internal bits spread out upon the floor, assembled to create a happy face, the smiley emoticon, with a circular nose.

_**:o)**_

Dimitri steps back, shaking and feeling bile rise up in his throat. He'd seen death before, he'd seen death recently, but not this gruesome and lifeless. This was horror. The person who did this was mocking them. No, not them, him. He steps back again, his back hitting something thin and wooden. He turns around quickly and finds a ladder. Nearly concealed by the vines and roots underground. He looks up and shouts, "T-Three mutlated c-corpses! Ladder! Gruesome, and intentional! Our soldiers!" He was shaking at this point, and looking at the bodies, feeling hatred for those who did it. Stephanie is the first to hop down, looking a the bodies, and sputtering a disinterested "Ew, that's fucking horrible" Chace was next, He hit the ground with a similar squelch, seeing the corpses, and going wide-eyed, but not breaking down. Jeff was last, he crept down carefully, and made a lifeless and scared noise, nearly whimpering. They started to walk off, before they heard a loud snapping sound, and Jeff screaming. Apparently, he had tripped on something. A thin broken wire lies across the floor, next to... Jeff's leg...

"A trip wire" Dimitri realized, before looking at jeff's leg. A long thin metal pipe was sticking out of his kneecap, writhing along with Jeff, as he sputtered and coughed, shaking violently. His blue blood dripped to the floor, and his short horns scraped against the walls. He coughed and screamed silently again, wheezing. Chace quickly scoops him up, holding him close to his chest, and nearly screaming himself.

"He's h-hurt! W-We need to s-stop everything! Stop! Retreat! We h-have to help him! We have to!" Chance screamed. He shook violently, pressing his lips against Jeff's forehead.

"I-It's alright. If w-we a-abandon this w-we're all g-going to be killed anyways" Jeff coughed, looking at chance and edging him to move on

"B-But-" Chance sputtered.

"If you want to get us all killed and run out there, dragging your boyfriend along, that's nice, but try, and I'll stick your legs together with a staple gun." Stephanie interrupted, nudging Dimitri, making him quickly shake his head.

"B-But-!" Chance tried to say

"MOVE IT!' She screamed, swinging her foot at Chance and missing by an inch. Her hair seeming to flair up.

The group trudged forward, more blood and other related things splattered across the walls. A broken juggling club lies abandoned on the floor, soaked in blood. After ten minutes of travel, they hear the faint sounds of more soldiers cautiously entering the hole, and the following screams of anguish. The party moves forward, dragging Jeff along, his leg still bleeding, giving the group behind them a path to follow. The hallway was plain and wooden, narrow enough to fit seven people standing shoulder to shoulder. Stephanie led the group, stopping now and then, shaking violently, and moving forward. After the sixth time, Dimitri walked up next to her and put his hand on her shoulder gingerly.

"Are you a-alright Steph?" He asked her, keeping his voice rather low. He flinches when he touched her shoulder, expecting to be hit.

"Y-Yeah, s-steadfast attitude, it's g-getting to me. We get in, out, and we can just ha-" He says, shuddering slightly. Being interrupted by a low and horrible sound, a grating noise echoing off the walls.

_**HONK**_

They all froze still, fear shuddering through them. Shortly after the sound came, hushing all the commotion, small footsteps come. A thin and tall figure stalks towards them, being made a silhouette by the little light coming from behind them. The figure emerges from the darkness, smiling horribly. It's a male troll, with horns spiraling sideways, a large gash stretching from the corner of his mouth, to his left ear. Still slightly letting out a steady flor of purple blood. He walls forward, swinging a bat with nails pointing out of it, side to side, spraying the walls with the immense amount of blood drenching it. He stops a few ways away from the group, chuckling slightly when his eyes glaze over the metal pike in Jeff's leg.

"My name is Nectis fretket. I see the fuckin pike in your leg you low life dirty blooded shit for brains peasant~ Prepare to be motherfucking SUBJUGGULATED YOU JACK FOR SHIT FUCKTARDS! Stay the hell out of my goddam cave and you fuckin live DOES NO ONE GET THIS SIMPLE FUCKIN CONCEPT" He bellows, his voice cracking and straining.

The party jumps back, and Dimitri draws his sword. The neon emitting a small glow, illuminating the hallway somewhat. He spreads his legs slightly more apart, ready for combat. Stephanie pulls out a small butterfly knife, with seventeen blades. She cocks her hips and growls slightly at their new foe. Nectis smiles and walks towards them, swinging his bat idly. Dimitri raises his blade, and swings it towards Nectis, flicking his wrist to add more thrust to the swing. His blade hurls forward, Nectis easily darts to the side, running halfway past Dimitri before his swing could even complete. Nectis darts forwards, slipping past Stephanie before she could even realize what was happening, and leaps at Jeff. He swings his bat and hits the side of Jeff's face. The skull caves in and the jaw snaps loose, his eye popping into a small clot of blood, and the back of his skull crushing outwards, a fountain of blood pouring out of the back of his head. Nectis continues to fly forward, shooting his foot down and stopping his momentum, giggling to himself as he stands up and dusts himself off. A new coat of blue all over his person. The remaining party looks at him horrified, and Dimitri runs forward. Nectis launches himself at Dimitri, with an animal-like scream, and a cackling that echoed through the hallways, to be heard by the company above.

One down. Three to go. And the world to behold your deeds.


	5. Chapter 5- The ballet of the clowns

Chapter 5- The ballet of the clowns.

Dimitri's sword connects with Nectis's side, making him let out a loud shriek. His purple blood stains the wall, and he hits the ground, and launches himself forward. Nectis connects with Dimitri's knees. They both fall to the floor, and Nectis swings his arm at Dimtri, Dimtri quickly ducks his head and knees The clown in the stomach, another hunk of purple blood splats onto his chest. Nectis quickly hops up, and swings the hilt of his bat downwards as hard as he can. Dimitri is quickly knocked down again by the hilt of the bat. Nectis raises his bat up, and tenses his muscles.

A wicked smile creeps across his face, and he laughs. He swings the bat down, and suddenly stops. His eyes go wide and his breath is sucked in. He looks down, and seven butterfly knife blades are sticking through his chest. The purple blood drips down his chest, and his entire body goes slack. He slumps down, and hits the floor, his body twitching slightly, before stopping. His eyes glassy and empty, staring at a wall that he could never see, and grasping at the little life he had. No longer there.

Stephanie quickly yanks the blade out, another splash of purple liquid life covering her legs. She sighs heavily, and picks Dimitri up off the ground. Wrapping her arms around him and pulling her right up against him.

Don't you even almost die like that again you sack of shit..." She whispered, holding him close to her and shuddering slightly, trying to shake off a little of the blood. Dimitri blushes slightly and hugs her back. Both of them look at Chace, and shudder. Chace is unmoving, except for the slow rising and falling of his chest. Staring at Jeff's unmoving body, with a look of utmost horror. They walk forward a little more they see a large door. marked in bright pink blood. The blood, dripping down down the walls, spells out: "MoThErFuCkInG SlEePiNg qUarTeRs" They stare at this horrified. The party realizes, with a tinge of bile poking at their throats, that they've stumbled upon a colony of the crazy bastards. They hear a great clattering of armor and feet behind them, and see the Commander at their side

"My god..." is all he can say, before quickly ushering his troops on. His eyes going nearly as wide as Chace's. He looks at Dimitri and says, his voice soft "Go." and hands Dimitri a small map, with an area marked off. and a small little file with some papers in it. It's a light brown folder, looking hastily put together. A small red seal with the symbol of a sword crossed with the Sburb pointed on it is on the edge of the map. "This is a map to the city of Saltik. Go to the main council and tell them it's a code 'Juggling club'. We have some serious shit on our hands here, and we need some extra backup if you know what I mean. Soldiers, cavalry, men,weapons, I've seen this kinda thing before and they're nothin to trifle with Kiddo. The seal on this will get you into the gates. Do not fail, or you'll have some blood on your hands buddy" Dimitri quickly nods, stuffing the map into his coat pocket.

Dimitri grasps Stephanie's hand, and quickly pulls her to the entrance, running down the Halls.

They scramble up the ladder, and to the above-ground. Four men and three horses sit up on the grassy field. All of them a look of horror on their faces. Their scared, scared faces.

Hours later.

After nonstop riding, they finally reach the town. They ride into the small into the gates of a small town, with tall stone buildings. Two guards stand at the entrance, each holding large two pronged spears. Dimitri and Stephanie walk up to the guards, and Immediately have spears pointed at them. Dimitri quickly whips out the map, and pushes it against one of the guard's faces, rubbing into his eyes and snickering. After the guards begrudgingly let them through, they headed to the large circular building. This was where the council of the Sburbians lived. They still had sessions running, and had immense power. Political and physical. They walked along the cobblestone streets, and eventually came to the council home. The building towers over the two, reaching high into the clouds, swirling around it. The pair timidly walks up to the large copper doors, gears and pipes sprawl around them. The doors are twice as high as Dimitri and Stephanie. They walk to the copper doors, the ground before it frigid and hard.

They walk up to the cold copper doors, and Dimitri knocks on the door timidly. They suddenly swing open, seemingly on their own. Unknown by anyone, the map inside Dimitri's pocket glows wildly. They step into the building and are met with a sprawling corridor, with entrances to hundreds of other hallways. A large bronze arch, a dome like ceiling and a thick cobblestone floor. Sound echoes through the building, so it's hard to pick out a conversation to listen to, since the noise blends together. Making it the perfect place to have a meeting of any sorts. People bustle about, carrying bags and talking to one another. A large mechanical human like form stalks by, quickly ushered into another large door. The pair walks about, looking for signs of where the council is. They suddenly stop next to a large wooden sign, clearly labeled: "Council, yo".

The pair quickly follows the red arrow to another large door, make with deep purple iron. A gilded knocker shaped like an eagle's head hangs from the middle of the door. The pair walks up to it, and Dimitri leans out, and awkwardly grasps it, bringing it up, and letting go. The knocker hits the door with a loud clang, the sound harsh and extreme. The entire hallway suddenly stops, all of the talk and noise coming to a halt. Only whispers, hushed voices, and footsteps are heard. Hundreds of eyes dart to Dimitri and Stephanie. The door swings open violently, making the pair jump back to avoid being killed. The room ahead of them is nearly impossible to see into. all that's visible is a long hallway, barely lit by purple torches, hung from the wall by iron holsters. The hallway stretches out into darkness, the group unable to see the end.

"So... This is it. The council hall. Alright, let's hope we don't get our asses handed to us on a silver platter" Dimitri commented, sighing deeply whilst looking. down the dark and foreboding hall.

"Well.. Er... I guess we head in there, Dimitri. We're gonna be alright, we're just messengers." Stephanie replied, putting her hand gingerly on Dimitri's shoulder.

They both head down the dark dark hall, The purple light illuminating them. They continue down the cobblestone path, st0opping every now and then to stare forwards, seeing if they could find some glimmer of light. Purple torch after purple torch, step after step, breath after breath. Hours go by, step by step, purple torch after purple torch, breath after breath. Hour after hour. After what seems like forever, they arrive at a small wooden door, a little taller than Dimitri. He grabs the bronze handle and pulls the door open.

Fear rushes through his body.

He regrets this decision entirely.


	6. Chapter 6-The world finally falls apart

Chapter six, the world finally falls apart.

Dimitri slowly stepped into the room, a pitch black swirling room, nearly impossible to tell the size of the room. It was cold, and the only light came from a small candle in the middle of the room. He found his hand reaching for his companions. By the candle light, he could see her nodding as he grasped her hand. She squeezed his hand gently, and they walked towards the candle. A small index card, as white as the pale blocks of quartz sitting outside of the building, with red ink quickly scribbled on it. On it, in hastily scribbled letters, read

"Put me out"

He shot a glance at Stephanie, and she nodded her head. He pressed his tongue to his index finger and thumb, pinching the small flickering orange flame. The flame quickly went out under his pressure, and the room was bathed in a nearly consuming darkness. He looked around, and squeezed Stephanie's hand. He could hear her sharp intake of breath as soon as the lights went out. He spun around and let out a sigh, trying to see her under the presence of nearly no light.

"Hey, Stephanie, you okay? Y-You got something against the dark?" He whispered to her, his voice hoarse and scared. The darkness never bode well for him. Something unsettling about the utter blackness that tagged along with the dark. Anything could be out there waiting to wrap it's hungry fingers around your throat.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Totally alright dude." She squeezed his hand tightly and stepped closer to where he was. She then released his hand and wrapped both of her arms tightly around his waist.  
Dimitri sputtered and glances around, she couldn't see but his cheeks lit up a bright red. He could feel her presence leave her, and a small giggle came from in front of him. He smiled and let out a soft chuckle.  
Suddenly he heard a soft clank, and a little gasp. He furrowed his brows and reached forward for her.

Air.

He flt absolutely nothing in front of him, air, void, a certain lack of presence. He grasps the air, and lets out a confused squeak. The floor beneath him seemed to give, and his body fell backwards. The ground underneath him slipping away. He reaches upwards, his hair flinging in front of his face. His body fell backwards, and he could feel the ground snap back into place above him. His body hurled backwards, and he let out a shriek, terror filling every part of his body. A light zoomed past him, then another, lighting up the walls. He glanced at them, and saw small splotches of...

Blood. Bright blue, purple, red, purple, fuchsia, rust, brown and the entire hemospectrum followed. Smeared across the walls. He hardly seemed to register this as his body filled with his scream, his body being bathed in light. Illuminating the blood better Tears floated upwards from his face as he shrieked, glancing downwards, his eyes glances upon something that caused bile to swim into his throat. As far down as he could see, a small smudge in his vision, a rainbow of color. Splattered all over the walls.

He fell for a while longer, his scream piercing every part of his body, the terror filling his body as he screamed. No aim for it, other than pure terror. He was going to die. Whatever was down there was going to kill him. A moment later, he saw the blood streaks become more common, this beautiful rainbow spattering the walls. His terror filled his body, and the tears flowed freely, he began to claw at the walls, a fingernail ripping away. His red blood smeared across the wall. A deep rumbling filled the long tunnel, and Dimitri saw a glimpse of... Something. He could have sworn he saw an eye. A few scales, some kind of claw. They flashed by him, and his whole body seemed to stop. They weren't killed by impact, he realized.

Something here killed them

He clawed at the wall again, the friction tearing part of the skin on his finger off. He let out a loud whimper and clutched his hand. Suddenly, he felt a presence on his back, something solid, yet not, blood, spittle, and a tiny bit of bile came shooting out of his throat as he hit this... Thing. Suddenly his whole body was submerged in water. The cold wet liquid crawling around his form, creeping up his person quickly. He lies there, his eyes wide open, and his body cold and wet. Before thrashing. A single thought filled his mind, and controlled his being, all he wanted, all he was. Was to "live"  
Live, live, live, live! Live! Life! Stay alive! Stay alive! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!  
He screamed in his head, the thought occupying his body. He ignored the searing pain, and swam out of the water. The fear slowly creeping away. He looked around, adrenaline pumping through his system. He peeked his head out, and looked around. Suddenly his feet touched the ground, and the water flushed away, flowing out a small drain in the floor. He glanced at this, and looked around. He saw a small rusty makeshift spear lying on the floor, and instinctively grabbed it. He tried to open his syladex, but a red error message popped up

"Unable, blocked signal"

He growled and swung the spear at the message, the letters shivering and disappearing. He raised the weapon and spun around. The 'thing' he saw darted past again, and he swung around. It was gone...  
Dimitri looked around the room slowly, trying to ignore the blood splattering the spear, the walls, and his clothing... The water washed most of it away, but it left a faint hue that made sure to remind Dimitri, he was going to die. He swung around once mo- oh hello there.

A hideous long green brown like thing, with a single black eye, no pupil or iris, solidly black blob on the creatures face. Seven long metallic prongs stick out of it's spine, on three of them sit blades, one of them a rotating saw, another had a long needle, and the last two were large scissor-like things. The horrible creature had two long and twisted green claws, covered in troll and human blood. The thing had long winding teeth, and it's tongue was covered in razor blades stitched to it. All of these appendages looked stitched and burnt on, the hideous monster being littered with scars and stitches. The thing screeched, a metallic and piercing noise. Dimitri swung his spear at it, and the thing darted to the side. He noticed the damn thing was hovering  
Great, a floating death snake, just what I needed he thought to himself, before swinging the spear down. The edge scraped the creatures head, and it let out another screech. He felt a searing pain shoot up his leg. The thing had bitten him. He screamed and rammed the blade into it's skull, and the spear went clean through. The thing shuddered and slumped, sparks flying from it's head. He sighs and kicks the thing off of himself, the body hitting the floor. Blood leaked from his leg freely

"And stay dead you bastard" He spat out, spitting on the robo-snake's corpse

The horrific screech rang through the room once more, and he jumped backwards. The robotic creature floated upwards again, seeming to grow in size. Three more blades pierced it's skin, and it flung itself at Dimitri. He swung the spear and deflected a whirring saw, one of the blades slicing across his shoulder. He lead out an angry grunt, ramming the butt of the spear into it's stomach. The creature let out another shriek, and a second blade rammed into his shoulder. He screamed and leaned forward, sinking his teeth into the pitch black eye. Another horrid shriek filled the room, and the creature grew again, two long needles seeping out of it's stomach. Dimitri glanced around quickly, and saw more eyes flickering in the room. He swung the spear forward, and caught one of the blades. The creature shot forward, and sunk it's teeth into his stomach. He let out a small scream, and the spear left his hand, blood running down his stomach.

The creature shot back upwards, dragging Dimitri along with it. He clawed and scratched and hit it, and it reacted by slamming him against the walls. Ramming him back and forth against the stone walls, dragging him up and along it, piercing and stabbing him. He screamed and shouted, slamming his fists into it's eyes and back, he grabbed hold of one of the needles, and rammed it into it's eye. A gray liquid sprayed over his face, and it slammed his face into the wall, ramming a blade into his leg, his blood drenching the walls. He shrieked and rammed it into the thing's body over and over, screams filling the tunnel. He rammed the needle deep within the creatures chest, and it fell limp, the clawing and biting ceased.

The body slowly floated down back to the ground, and collapsing onto the floor, the gray liquid spilling all over the floor. The eyes flickered again at Dimitri, and a low hissing filled the room. He dropped the needle and grabbed his spear, quickly slicing the creature open. A small and frail hand dropped out of it's stomach, covered in this odd white goo. The substance quickly melted the remains of the tanned female hand, as it twitched and jerked. He sighed and curled up, seeing the eyes flickering along the wall.

He lied there for a moment longer, before he saw a smaller one of them hop off the wall, crawling out from a tiny crack. It bit itself on the leg, and grew double it's size. Roughly the size of a quarter. Then it bit itself again and again. Dimitri estimated it'd be sixty seconds before it was full size. and he gripped the spear tightly, blood flowing down his stomach, head, hands, legs, arms and chest. He huffed and pointed the blade at it, before the stone wall behind him gave way. A small hole appeared, and three faced popped through. A gruff man with dark skin, a small woman with thin eyes and small lips, and a scruffy looking person with skin the color of red sand. The smallest person, the man with red hair and red skin, beckoned Dimitri through. Two more men walking in, each holding spears

"Quickly, you idiot! In here, before it grows! We must escape quickly!"

Dimitri nodded and stepped for the hole, before a loud grumbling filled the tunnel. Roughly thirty of the small beasts came out, and began rapidly biting themselves. A loud scream was heard in the tunnel, followed by several more. The man with red hair beckoned Dimitri and ran down the corridor, and Dimitri sprinted after him, several screams filled the hallway. He glanced back, and one of them men holding a spears was on the floor, two of the creatures ripping apart his skull. Several other people were alongside him, fighting off the creatures, trolls and humans fighting alongside one another. A short troll with gray skin and purple streaks in his hair ran alongside Dimitri, waving a spear and swatting a snake away. Dimitri kept running, his feet pounding along the hallway, screams and shrieks, metal on metal clashing filled the hallway. He ran past someone with a blade through a snake's eye, the teeth wrapped around his neck, desperately fighting for survival, his blue blood spilling onto the floor.

He kept sprinting, his body tired, and blood dripping from his person, but he kept running. The red haired man sprinting a little ways in front of him. He felt a sharp pain on his foot and spun around, a snake-thing biting down on his foot, he swung his spear downwards, at the head of the thing came clean off. The gray liquid spraying across the floor. He spun back around and kept sprinting, his legs pounding on the floor, screams and shrieks still ringing in his ears. His body gave for a second, and he fell onto his knees. A woman with long curly hair and thick eyebrows picked him up by the collar and shoved him forwards, he kept running, sprinting, panting and wincing as his body screamed in protest. He finally came to a small cart, being held up by a wire, and following a tunnel stretching far far away. He collapsed into it, briefly taking note that it looked as if it could fit forty people, and lie there, blood leaking onto the floor. He felt more people scrambling in, and his mind drifted away, his body feeling numb and faint.

**(( hey sorry for not posting recently! I almost forgot about this cute little fic, because I was just so busy! Thank you all so much for supporting it, and I hope you wait for the next chapter! Excuse my horrible writing ehhehe ))**


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